# Family, Neighborhoods, and Intergenerational Transmission of Type II Diabetes Risk

> **NIH NIH R01** · UTAH STATE HIGHER EDUCATION SYSTEM--UNIVERSITY OF UTAH · 2021 · $343,125

## Abstract

PROJECT SUMMARY / ABSTRACT
We draw on the life course framework to validate hypotheses regarding the role of the neighborhood
environment in the transmission of Type 2 Diabetes (T2DM) risk from parents to offspring. The
research will transform our understanding of how neighborhood features, and the interplay between
neighborhood and family characteristics, affect T2DM risk over the life course. The intergenerational
transmission of T2DM to offspring has long been demonstrated. Our past research has shown that
greater neighborhood walkability is associated with lower risk of obesity, and it suggests that the
activity environment may have an important impact on moderating or exacerbating T2DM risk as well.
For this study, we expand the scope of neighborhood features to include food environments. We
propose to estimate the risk of T2DM as a function of both familialT2DM histories and neighborhood
environments. We draw on comprehensive, longitudinal records in theUtah Population Database,
which contain individual-level data on medical, residential, and familial variables spanning decades for
an entire population. These intergenerational data will be integrated with measures of neighborhood
characteristics across time to construct longitudinal family health and neighborhood histories, which
we will use, following a life course approach, to characterize T2DM risk. Using innovative methods, we
capitalize on small-area measures of the built environment to consider the roles of familial and
neighborhood factors that may independently and interactively influence T2DM risk. The proposed
analyses will address the following questions:
 How can longitudinal, geo-referenced databases and maps depict dynamic spatial
 characteristics of critical sociodemographic and physical neighborhood-level risk factors
 for T2DM?
 What are the ways in which neighborhood component trajectories modify how familial
 histories of T2DM are associated with the risk of T2DM among offspring?
 What are the potential quality-of-life improvements and economic benefits
 associated with altering modifiable neighborhood features linked to T2DM risk?
This study will make several innovative contributions to the diabetes literature. First, to account for the
long latency period for the onset of T2DM, we will use decades of data to operationalize neighborhood
risk in terms of walkability and food environments (under consideration of neighborhood changes over
time and migration between neighborhoods). Second, we will utilize existing genealogical records and
objective family health histories, a feature not found in prior T2DM studies, to assemble a cohort of
parents and offspring in four urban Utah counties, differentiating between Hispanic and non-Hispanic
white populations. Third, the combination of intergenerational and neighborhood data allows for a multi-
level study of T2DM risk to inform prevention policies. Fourth, we estimate the costs of diabetes
attributable to neighborhood condit...

## Key facts

- **NIH application ID:** 10130509
- **Project number:** 5R01DK118405-02
- **Recipient organization:** UTAH STATE HIGHER EDUCATION SYSTEM--UNIVERSITY OF UTAH
- **Principal Investigator:** Lori Kowaleski-Jones
- **Activity code:** R01 (R01, R21, SBIR, etc.)
- **Funding institute:** NIH
- **Fiscal year:** 2021
- **Award amount:** $343,125
- **Award type:** 5
- **Project period:** 2020-04-01 → 2024-03-31

## Primary source

NIH RePORTER: https://reporter.nih.gov/project-details/10130509

## Citation

> US National Institutes of Health, RePORTER application 10130509, Family, Neighborhoods, and Intergenerational Transmission of Type II Diabetes Risk (5R01DK118405-02). Retrieved via AI Analytics 2026-05-23 from https://api.ai-analytics.org/grant/nih/10130509. Licensed CC0.

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